Kelso is a ghost town in west-central Deaf Smith County, Texas, United States.
Kelso was created as the basis of a massive confidence scam by George G. Wright to sell an 80,000-acre tract of XIT Ranch land 25 miles northwest of Hereford. Wright constructed a fake town which included a hotel, a general store, and a schoolhouse, none of which were occupied by permanent settlers. The many prospective land buyers brought to this town were the only guests of the hotel. The schoolhouse was never used and the "customers" buyers saw loading merchandise they had purchased at the general store were actors hired by Wright. The merchandise was simply replaced on the shelves when the land buyers had left. Wright also constructed a large barn and filled it with corn shipped in from Iowa.
Wright's fraud was so successful that the United States Postal Service briefly established a post office in Kelso that operated from 1907 to 1908. Wright and his associates, by misrepresenting the quality and value of the land, its distance from towns and stage of development, successfully sold parcels at prices from $8 to $40 an acre. To protect the scam, residents from the immediate surrounding area were not allowed on the special trains Wright chartered from Kansas City, and the land purchasers were prevented from mingling with local residents. Dryland farmers, who made up the preponderance of the buyers, realized too late that the town was fake and that deep-well irrigation was necessary to grow crops. By late 1907, Wright had sold the entire tract. The town of Kelso soon disappeared after proposals by the farmers to bring in a rail line were unsuccessful. [1] [2]
The Dust Bowl was the result of a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of natural factors and human-made factors: a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent wind erosion, most notably the destruction of the natural topsoil by settlers in the region. The drought came in three waves: 1934, 1936, and 1939–1940, but some regions of the High Plains experienced drought conditions for as long as eight years.
Parmer County is a county located in the southwestern Texas Panhandle on the High Plains of the Llano Estacado in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 9,869. The county seat is Farwell. The county was created in 1876 and later organized in 1907. It is named in honor of Martin Parmer, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and early judge. Parmer County was one of 10 prohibition, or entirely dry, counties in the state of Texas, but is now a wet county.
Oldham County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,758. Its county seat is Vega. The county was created in 1876 and organized in 1881. Oldham County is included in the Amarillo, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Deaf Smith County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,583. The county seat is Hereford, which is known as the "Beef Capital of the World". The county was created in 1876 and later organized in 1890. The Hereford, TX Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Deaf Smith County.
The Texas panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a square-shaped area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east. It is adjacent to the Oklahoma Panhandle, land which Texas previously claimed. The 1820 Missouri Compromise declared no slavery would be allowed in states admitted from the Louisiana Purchase above 36°30′ north latitude. Texas was annexed in 1845 from still more westerly land. The Compromise of 1850 removed territory north of this line from Texas, and set the border between the Texas Panhandle and the New Mexico Territory at the 103rd meridian west. The eastern border at the 100th meridian west was inherited from the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, which defined the border between the United States and New Spain. The Handbook of Texas defines the southern border of Swisher County as the southern boundary of the Texas Panhandle region.
The XIT Ranch was a cattle ranch in the Texas Panhandle which operated from 1885 to 1912. Comprising over 3,000,000 acres (12,000 km2) of land, it ran for 200 miles (300 km) along the border with New Mexico, varying in width from 20 to 30 miles. The massive ranch stretched through ten counties in Texas and at its peak regularly handled 150,000 head of cattle. The brand "XIT" was chosen for its difficulty to alter thus thwarting rustlers.
The Oklahoma Panhandle is a salient in the extreme northwestern region of the U.S. state of Oklahoma, consisting of Cimarron County, Texas County and Beaver County, from west to east. As with other salients in the United States, its name comes from the similarity of its shape to the handle of a pan. Its largest city is Guymon in Texas County. Black Mesa State Park, located in Cimarron County, is the highest point in the state. Other points of interest include Beaver Dunes Park, Optima Lake, and the Optima National Wildlife Refuge. Oklahoma Panhandle State University is ten miles away from Guymon.
Drayton Plains is an unincorporated community in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The community is located within Waterford Township. As an unincorporated community, Drayton Plains has no legally defined area or population statistics of its own. It once had its own post office with the 48020 ZIP Code but now uses the 48329 Waterford ZIP Code. It is located on Dixie Highway near the west end of Loon Lake.
Bardsdale is a rural unincorporated community and populated place in Ventura County, California. It is located in the orange blossom and agricultural belt of the Santa Clara River Valley, south of the Santa Clara River and on the north slope of South Mountain. The closest town is Fillmore, which is on the north side of the Santa Clara about 3 miles (5 km) from Bardsdale. Santa Paula is about 7 miles (11 km) west, the most direct route being South Mountain Road. Moorpark is about 6 miles (10 km) south over the serpentine mountain road known as Grimes Canyon.
Redland, long known also as the Redlands or the Redland, is a historic unincorporated community and agricultural area in Miami-Dade County, Florida, located about 20 miles (32 km) southwest of downtown Miami and just northwest of Homestead, Florida. It is unique in that it constitutes a large farming belt directly adjoining what is now the seventh most populous major metropolitan area in the United States. Named for the pockets of red clay that cover a layer of oolitic limestone, Redland produces a variety of tropical fruits, many of which do not grow elsewhere in the continental United States. The area also contains a large concentration of ornamental nurseries. The landscape is dotted with u-pick'em fields, coral rock (oolite) walls, and the original clapboard homes of early settlers and other historic early twentieth century structures.
DeWitty, later renamed Audacious, was a village in Cherry County, Nebraska, United States. The settlement, which was founded in 1907 and disincorporated in 1936, was located 10 miles (20 km) north and west of Brownlee. DeWitty was Nebraska's "largest and most permanent colony" of African American homesteaders.
Cannondale is a census-designated place (CDP) within the town of Wilton in Fairfield County, Connecticut. It had a population of 141 at the 2010 census. The neighborhood consists of many old homes on large, almost rural lots now largely wooded. The English first settled the land in the 17th century. At the center of Cannondale is Cannon Crossing, a small shopping village of boutiques and restaurants made up of 19th-century buildings restored by actress June Havoc in the late 1970s on the east side of Cannondale Railroad Station. Both are part of Cannondale Historic District, which encompasses the central part of Cannondale and most of its significant historical buildings.
Mosida is a ghost town located on the southwestern shore of Utah Lake, in Utah County, Utah, United States. The nearest inhabited town is Elberta, some 12 miles (19 km) to the south. A heavily promoted planned community in the 1910s, Mosida was ultimately a failure.
Ijamsville is an unincorporated community located 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Frederick, in Frederick County, Maryland, United States. The town was founded by Plummer Ijams, a descendant of Welsh immigrants, from whom the town took its name. The discovery of high-quality slate in the area led to Ijamsville's brief era as a mining town, which lasted until it transitioned to agriculture in the mid-1800s. In the mid-to-late 20th century, large quantities of land in Ijamsville were purchased by developers, and the town became primarily residential as a suburb of Frederick, Baltimore, and D.C.
Joshua's Tract Conservation and Historic Trust, or Joshua's Trust, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) land trust operating in northeast Connecticut. Joshua's Trust was incorporated in 1966 to help conserve property of significant natural or historic interest. As of 2011, the Trust protects more than 5,000 acres, maintains 42 miles of trails that are open to the public, holds educational outreach programs, and publishes the Joshua's Tract Walkbook.
The former Smith Tavern is located on Bedford Road in the hamlet of Armonk, New York, United States. It is a red frame building dating to the late 18th century, one of the few left in a region that has rapidly suburbanized over the past century. The Smith family, for whom it is named, did not build it but owned it for most of the 19th century.
Manhattan was a proposed city in a development that was located in northern Manatee County, Florida near the present-day town of Parrish during the Florida land boom in the 1920s. The town was intended to be the centerpiece of an agricultural community called Manatee River Park Estates.
Parmerton is a ghost town in Parmer County, Texas, United States. It was originally known as Parmer Switch when the Pecos Valley and Northern Texas Railway built a line through the area in 1898 and it was named for Martin Parmer. The town was composed of 200 acres of land formerly owned by the XIT Ranch and had been used for wheat farming. A one-story courthouse was built at the midway point between Bovina and Friona and a post office was established in September 1907, shortly after Parmerton was voted Parmer County seat. After significant political intrigue, a second election was held in December 1907, after which Parmerton was stripped of its status in favor of Farwell. The post office closed in 1908 and Parmerton went into decline; today, nothing remains except for an historical marker and a railroad switch.
La Plata is a ghost town in Deaf Smith County, Texas, United States. It was originally named Grenada and was established in 1890 by the XIT Ranch as a means of consolidating political power after Deaf Smith County was established. The town engaged in a controversial battle with neighboring Ayr over the county seat election, which was mired in corruption. After Grenada won the election, county judge J. R. Dean changed the town's name to La Plata due to a request from postal officials. A courthouse was built and the town soon added a post office, a school, a county jail, and a Presbyterian church. Businesses included a general store, a pharmacy, a saloon, a hotel, an implement house, a blacksmith shop, a livery stable, and the offices which housed the county's first newspaper, La Plata Star.
The lifestyles of early settlers of Dedham, Massachusetts were marked by a simple, agrarian life. Dedham was, by design, "a self-contained social unit, almost hermetically sealed off from the rest of the world." There was little disparity of wealth, and even the richest among the townsfolk still typically worked their own land, possibly with the assistance of a few servants.
35°00′22″N102°38′00″W / 35.0061°N 102.6333°W